After the magnitude 6 earthquake ended, a magnitude 7 earthquake was set to arrive in three days.
If a magnitude 6 was rely considered a strong quake, posing little threat to sturdy shelters, then a magnitude 7 was a veritable major earthquake, and cities relatively close to the seismic source would face enormous risks.
Even shelters that were built solidly from the start with earthquake considerations and had quake-resistant rooms couldn't withstand the mountain-splitting, earth-rending force capable of destroying an entire city.
To this end, aside from Guan Tong's proposal for Mind Power transmission, all shelters in inland cities were undergoing temporary reinforcent work. Any and all seismic-resistant materials were being piled on, as even a little usefulness would be good.
Aside from Beixing exhausting all efforts to prepare counterasures, other countries of the Human Consortium were also making various preparations.
But each country's own situation was different, so their preparation thods varied greatly.
For a powerful nation like the Suroma Empire, they still believed in the power of machinery and technology. Leveraging the technological explosion since the arrival of the Doomsday Rules, they invented many new types of chanical units, planning to have them replace humans and take charge of post-earthquake relief work.
Simultaneously, preparations for high-altitude refuge were also highly valued across all territories of the Suroma Empire. But ti was too short; building a large number of new transport aircraft was unlikely, but so large airships, hot air balloons, and the like could be hastily launched, rapidly constructing a batch specifically for use by certain privileged personnel.
As for island nations like Sakura Prayer Country, where the nationwide relocation work wasn't yet finished, they simply couldn't make such massive preparations. They could only take the route of dispersing their population to relieve pressure, thereby reducing overall casualties in the future.
Because based on the situation of the six earthquakes that had occurred so far, the appearance of seismic source locations was random.
Unlike the fourth Snow Disaster rule that occurred last year, where snowfall density was positively correlated with population density, aning more densely populated areas faced greater risks.
But this ti, the number of seismic sources was random, and their locations were also random. With good luck, one might even encounter a situation where no seismic source appeared within one's own country—this had already happened several tis.
Therefore, these migrating island nations simply dispersed their national populations to various places. This way, even if an earthquake caused massive destruction, only a portion of the people would die, not everyone.
This thod of handling things was a last resort, equivalent to relying on luck. If you were lucky and far from the seismic source, you'd be fine; if unlucky and the source was nearby, you could only wait for death.
It was easy to imagine that such a laissez-faire official response would provoke strong dissatisfaction among the populace. However, after the opposing voices ultimately found they couldn't propose any better solutions, the clamor gradually subsided.
Another powerful nation, Fahe, after the incident of the large-scale chaos at the central square, was still searching for and arresting the Ascendant within its borders who possessed Mind Control or ntal control abilities.
However, the latter seed prepared, hiding very deep, and continuously used remote control thods to make civilians launch attacks on official action teams without warning.
This gave the Fahe authorities a massive headache, to the point of being in a state of extre vigilance. Because it was simply impossible to determine whether soone was an ordinary civilian or a controlled civilian, like a "zombie" computer infected with Trojan malware.
Especially since the controlled individuals would lose their mories of being controlled, making official handling hesitant, as these controlled individuals were themselves innocent.
As for the remaining small nations with populations in the millions, what they could do in the face of a major earthquake was also limited, only able to pin their hopes on help from major powers and banding together for survival.
It's worth ntioning the Tulip Federation, which was very powerful in the early days of the Doomsday Rules era, once standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Suroma and Beixing.
This powerful southern coalition on Tianshui Star, ever since the Eighth Rule period when a civil war erupted over uneven distribution of benefits, had been fighting continuously and still hadn't ended.
The dozens of large and small warlord factions engaged in lee warfare had caused casualties so great they were no less than the number of casualties caused by a single Doomsday Rule.
This naturally led to the federation's disintegration and collapse, unable to recover. Among them, the largest warlord faction to which the alpha wolf belonged also suffered heavy losses after being jointly attacked by other warlords.
The consequence of this chain reaction was that all the warlord factions originally comprising the Tulip Federation were excluded from the Human Consortium.
When the Human Consortium was first established, so warlords applied to join but were rejected by vote. The reason was that various countries had already called on them several tis to stop the civil war and protect the population, but they simply didn't take it seriously and continued killing each other.
Under such circumstances, the committee mbers believed these people could not comprehend and implent the Human Consortium's ideals of unity and mutual assistance, ultimately refusing their mbership.
Now, with the major earthquake imminent, these warlords still hadn't quieted down, with so still engaged in lee warfare.
Moreover, according to information circulating online, the Ascendant Lucifer, previously wanted by Suroma for the "kill count competition challenge," had now transford into the leader of one of the smaller warlord factions.
But no matter how they stirred things up, the countries belonging to the Human Consortium couldn't be bothered. Now everyone was busy sweeping the snow from their own doorsteps, exhausting their minds to prepare for the disaster, truly having no energy to divert attention to these factions.
...
Sowhere in Yong'an.
In a small eting room, less than ten people sat around a table, on which were placed the materials submitted by Gao Liangwei.
A steady voice spoke first: "Everyone is clear on the matter. Let's discuss how to proceed."
A gentle voice said: "Since the research office has agreed, I think it should be feasible."
Soone concurred: "Yes. Although there are indeed so risks, for the safety of hundreds of millions of people, this risk is worth taking."
A firm, hardline voice stated: "The risk can be taken, but insurance must also be in place. I think it's very inappropriate to place no restrictions whatsoever on this Shadow. Also, I have a newly submitted docunt here; you can take a look."
That person distributed the docunts. Everyone scanned them a few tis and understood the contents.
"Many people in the Counterasures Research Office have issues with the head, Gao Liangwei," the hardline voice said. "They say his approach is too militaristic, suppressing so dissenting voices. I think this is sothing we need to pay attention to."
"I think Liangwei is fine," another serious voice chid in. "I know this man; he always handles matters strictly by the book and would never let personal likes or dislikes interfere with official business."
"You were the one who proposed him as the head; of course you know him."
"What do you an by that?"
"Alright," the steady voice said. "Let's put Gao Liangwei's matter aside for now; we need to look at the key point. What is the key point? Simple: people's lives and safety are the key point. Anything that can protect people's lives has my support."
Upon hearing this, the hardline voice said: "Allow
to remind you, sir, of what Shadow did in Andai State. This person openly attacked the capital of another country, attacked Prince Lado, the leader of Andai State... Are you truly not worried about giving such a person additional, uncontrolled power? Not worried that similar incidents might happen dostically?"
Upon hearing this, everyone else looked at the person sitting in the center, wondering what the leader of Beixing would think.
Faced with such a serious topic, that person's steady tone suddenly beca sowhat leisurely, even carrying a hint of amusent as they said: "What am I worried about? If I did sothing that enraged both heaven and humanity, it would be right for soone to co and punish ."
"You..."
"We have no way; they have a way, so we'll go with their way," the steady voice said. "As for restrictions, I don't think they're necessary either. Matters of life and death are of utmost importance; don't create any psychological barriers."
"You are right."
"I share this view as well."
Those present voiced their support one after another, but the owner of the hardline voice remained silent.
"Sister Lanying, we're all getting on in years; we should be more tolerant," the steady voice said. "It's normal for young people to see so dark sides of society, to be unsociable, to have doubts about people and things. But as long as their hearts are good, willing to help others, they are a good youth, a promising seedling worthy of trust and cultivation."
"...You are right. I will reflect."
"Let Gao Liangwei proceed boldly. As for the issues others have reported about him, any investigation or handling must wait until after this rule ends. Changing commanders on the eve of battle is a major military taboo; we don't do such things."
After the high-level decision-making eting concluded, the news was imdiately relayed to the Counterasures Research Office.
The reply Gao Liangwei saw was just four words: Proceed boldly.
This instantly filled him with confidence. He imdiately convened a full eting of the Counterasures Research Office and sent soone to invite the dean of the Mind Power Developnt Academy to attend.
He intended to mobilize Ascendants from various shelters and students from the academy with the highest efficiency to conduct Mind Power transmission for Shadow.
And this news was also conveyed to Guan Tong's ears the next morning.
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